`Viking Ritual' Raft Found In The Delaware At Forks * Carrying A Guitar And Golf Clubs, It Seems A Memorial To A Dead Man.

September 12, 1997|by JOE NIXON, The Morning Call

A raft filled with everything from clothes to golf clubs was found adrift in the Delaware River in Forks Township Thursday morning, with a note in the craft calling it a Viking ritual for a loved one.

"It certainly is a strange one. I've never had anything like this before," said township Police Chief Leon Fisher.

"You name it, it was in there," said police Capt. Louis Coxe.

The yellow rubber raft, about 6 feet long, was recovered from the Delaware in Forks near the scenic overlook along Route 611 around 9 a.m. Easton firefighters, already on the river in search of the reported free-floating raft, towed it to Scott Park, where Forks police retrieved it.

Coxe said the craft included shoes, pants, shirts, suits, leather jackets, sheets, blankets, pillow cases, a pillow and even three dishes. Also included was a guitar, extra guitar strings, an amplifier and a microphone. The clothes were in clear garment bags and Coxe said some of the clothing was new, still bearing packaging pins. Everything was tied down and some of the items were in Bloomingdale's store bags, police said.

"It almost sounds as though somebody put this stuff in this raft and (purposely) sent it downriver," Coxe said.

A note with the raft read, "Please don't touch. Viking ritual for daddy who died."

Coxe said police will retain custody of the items in the raft and would like to know who sent them off in the river and why. No identification was on the raft or on the items inside.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, the Vikings became known for burial customs that involved great ceremony.

The incident Thursday has similarities to one ritual in which rich Viking men and women were laid to rest in a ship that was buried. According to the encyclopedia, the Vikings believed the ship graves provided a safe, comfortable journey to the land of the dead. Many of the dead person's possessions were placed in the ship.